Bristol Show Snippets

Posted by: Tarquin Maynard - Portly on 21 February 2004

Muchachos

Had an anorak day at Bristol today; cannot claim to have seen everything but here are some highights, IMO

1. Me obviously

2. Naim DVD Its there, its stunning. Watched Alison Kraus (sp? ) Live in Paris; the fleshtones are completely natural, no hint of painting by numbers: grain on the woodwork on a semi acoustic guitar looked real and warm, just like it does in real life. Detailing is fantastic; wispy stray hairs are exactly right, very well detailed with no ghosting, colour bleed or echo visible. The black backgrounds wherejust that - black. Full rich colours throughout. The sound is what we expect, although the rokmm did the bass no real favours - this improved some hours later. I realised how good the video replay was when I saw the same DVD in the Spendor dem room, through an Arcam player. Expect around £2300 retail.

3. REL not subwoofers but sub-bass, according to the guys there. The Boss man was in slippers, which I rather liked. The actual bass was cranked up to plate tectonic level and was at a "check teeth for loose fillings " intensity. I heard one of the reps saying he was at a club last night with the speakers cranked too loud and he could not hear a thing. No comment as to how that affected the dem. The standard of manufacture is very high.

4. UKD Up on the 10th floor, some fabulous sounding valve amps from Pathos Acoustics, what amazed me was the particularly loud private conversations being held by the team; if you are going to dem kit bloody well shut up and let us listen.

5. Seventh Veil Much respected by Tom Alves, I now understand why. There are seriously good speakers, as one would expect for a £7k price tag. Fantasticaly fast, good solid bass, no hint of strain even at high sound levels. One to short list if you are looking to spend that kind of money. The guys running the dem are particularly friendly and enthusiatic.

6. Sony SACD. Just left me cold. Totally uninvolving.

7. Rega The new turn table is there, I photographed it as requested on the Forum but have not figured out how to download it here! Good old fashioned enthusiasts, I particularly liked the Union Jack finish T/T

Spent some time talking to the Naim guys, Paul Darwin in particular feigned interest for some time for which much thanks.

Regards

Mike

On the Yellow Brick Road and Happy

Posted on: 21 February 2004 by Justin

Ahhhh

Can SOMEBODY help mike get that picture up on the forum?

Or, selfishly, Mike can you email it to me.

juddson1@ameritech.net
judd

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by P

Got Paint Shop Pro?

On the main toolbar go to Image - Resize and change the pixel size to 640x480. Then go to File - Export - Jpeg Optimizer and set the compression to bring it down to 50k or below. Save it to my docs.

To post on the forum click on the paperclip in the message box toolbar then click browse. Select your pic and then press Post Now.

HTH

P

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by RICHYH

Anyone else go, whats going on? there is normally loads of interesting things to report.

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by Chris Metcalfe

I wasn't going to, but as no-one else has...

Naim - 3 main parts, the CD5i etc system with Arriva spkrs, sounding much better than in Heathrow; a CDX2 based system with allaes sounding pretty good; and the DVD5 system with big screen, sounding like a good AV system! Not my thing, but...

However, encouragingly several other exhibitors were using the new Naim kit, most successfully Mission (CDS3/NAP300s into big new Mission spkrs) - superb, but almost drowned by a massive Marantz AV display over the corridor;
and Dynaudio, a very nice 202/200 system driving DYn 1.4s, with also a Rega 25/dynavector and a Heed Audio power supply. So impressed was I with the sound of this turntable that, at £449 show price, I promptly bought one (though will need to add the Heed power supply later).

Spendor were also using a top Naim system to drive the S9e and the very pretty S5e. Sounded excellent.

Rega are discontinuing the P25, adding the P5 and P7. These look, er, strange. The P7 is more cake than cake stand, using a ceramic platter with Gyrodec-stlye round bits underneath!...the arms look good though (variations on the RB600).

I enjoyed the Roksan room (Xerxes X), and the insane Living Voice system - though wouldn't take it home. That's about it really. Absolutely no interesting displays of SACD or DVDA that I could see.

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by MarkEJ

Oh, all right. Rather than cross-link, here's my (edited) summary as currently pollutes PFM:

Our overall impression was of an under-attended show (in comparison with previous years), and while it wasn't quite "wind and tumbleweed", there did seem to be an awful lot of breathing space in the corridors. We found ourselves with a surprising amount of energy left at 4.45pm!

While there were quite a few attention-seeking "bang crash" AV-oriented rooms, we didn't find it as pervasive as normal for this show, to the extent that we wondered if the "Home Theatre" bubble had actually burst. Certainly I haven't seen as many turntables of all descriptions at a show since the 80s, but equally, I can't recall a show where the overall standard of presentation was so lack-lustre.

Memorable items:

The new Tivoli clock radio. Brilliantly thought out, magnificently executed with a proper snooze button, and one (analogue) clock for each side of the bed -- fantastic. Probably the best clock radio since the Sony Digimatic Lifetime, and just as outrageously expensive.

Creek / Epos: The only exhibitor (that we saw) who had the nerve to turn the room round, and back the speakers onto the bathroom wall. Creek electronics, Epos M12.2 speakers -- one of the best sounds we heard. Could have taken it home just like that -- fab.

Rega: To our ears, an abject lesson in "source-first". Even with 4 monoblocks and a new P7 TT, their new R9 speakers (£2500) were clearly far too good for this system, and told their own story. Why they didn't put a P9 in there I haven't a clue.

Totem: The other end of it -- they had cheaper Rega electronics and a P9. Far too many speakers in the room to make a clear judgement, but even with the cheap speakers, a better result.

Dynaudio: Some tiny, expensive (about £2000?) stand-mounts which nevertheless wanted a full square yard (each!) to themselves, fed by the rep's own Naim CDX2, 282/HiCap/250/NAC A5 on Fraim. Managed to sound slow and cold all at once, with a peculiar "no bass, no bass, no bass, BOOM, woob, no bass" tendency. Very odd hearing boom with no bass. Then he put a record on. The TT was a Rega P25 with a Heed Orbit 2 power supply (yes, it does 45rpm!). This was better than it had any right to be. It still sounded like a Naim system which had spent a month in the freezer and was powered up 30 minutes ago, but it was coherent, with lots of potential.

Henley Designs: went in this room first to hear the new Roksan Radius TT, which seemed OK, but bland. Playing through Kandy amps, with some large Vienna Acoustics floor standers. Left, and happened to pass the room door later. The music coming out pulled us straight in again. This time it was a full-monty Xerxes X/Artemiz/Ortofon Contrapunkt C, full width Roksan phono stage, and full-width TT PSU. Same speakers, fed by some "Audia" Battersea-grade amps. The Xerxes was absolutely rocking its socks off -- we sat there for half an hour loving every second of it. Ash Designs stands, no wanky wire and an enthusiastic rep who clearly loved what his product could do (Julie thought he looked like Leslie Phillips) -- quite took me back. This was the only thing we heard at the entire show to even approach the entertainment level of our own stuff, which has cost us considerably less. Can't understand why if it could be this good in this room, why could so few other exhibitors manage as well, with identical rooms and electricity.

Living Voice, etc.: As usual, great fun. I can see why people buy this stuff -- loads of life and character. Usual selection of electronics with milk bottles and obscure cables, and an SME 30 TT, which in spite of its reputation failed to stop a degree of "air conducting" amongst the audience. Would have like to have slid the Xerxes in there...

Naim: The AV room was outstanding, if you like that sort of thing. There is no doubt that Naim's approach to AV is seriously good, if this is where you want to spend your money. Streets ahead of any other AV system I've ever experienced. But... £££, and still plenty of problems with what looked to be the firmware on the DVD player ("unknown command" prompts appearing whenever a disk was changed). Low frequencies particularly convincing -- dry, taught, deep (as they should be from NBLs + some M+K subs). It's quite clear where Naim are going. This is why the "audio" got chopped out of their moniker.

Naim (upstairs): One room had virtually all the CD players into either 282 or 252, with loads of other boxes and Allaes. The affable Doug seemed slightly miffed at having to operate in an airing cupboard, and the result was pretty good but not outstanding, especially considering the price ticket. The other room had CD5i, Nait 5i, Rega 3 in funky green (what a mullet) and the new Arriva speakers. I was looking forward to this, and really wanted to be impressed, but I wasn't. It was terrific until a bass guitar gets played, and then it just loses the plot completely in classic AV fashion... which kind of figures. Richard D. was extremely helpful and pleasant, spending some time explaining the principles behind the Arriva. Thing is, on paper it should be fantastic. There are three sealed chambers (one for each driver), very simple (internal) crossover which has no involvement with the lower bass unit as this relies entirely on mechanical rolloff, not a port or anything close to it anywhere, and a plinth of thick, drilled MDF with 3 adustable "neo-spikes" for the floor and cups for the spikes on the cabinets. If this is a speaker to replace the Intros, then it is in one way a design triumph. The Intros had a port, but mostly sounded like they didn't. The Arrivas have no port but sound like they have. How do they do that, and crucially, WHY? They also seem like a lot of money for an entry-level speaker. However, the name could perhaps be more informatively spelt "ArriVa", as this makes plain their real purpose in life, IMHO.

Touraj M. was sitting in the bar bit downstairs looking very happy, grinning benificently at everyone there. Every time we passed him his smile was wider, like a Cheshire cat with a pony tail. Paul Messenger was seen intimidating the Wilson-Benesch rep from a great height with a clipboard -- deservedly, judging by how their "room" sounded.

Fun day, but not the most memorable. Although we didn't see a single LP12 at the entire show, it finally it seems to have dawned on most exhibitors that vinyl is back in a pretty major way, and there just seemed to be turntables all over the place. We normally take CDs to the show -- next year, I may risk an LP or two.

All IMHO, of course.

Best;

Mark

[This message was edited by Mark Ellis-Jones on SUNDAY 22 February 2004 at 14:54.]

[This message was edited by Mark Ellis-Jones on SUNDAY 22 February 2004 at 14:55.]

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by Derek Wright

Spendor had a CDS3 252 300 driving their speakers - very acceptable

Naim DVD image was superb

Fujitso Plasma screens - looked very good - it would be nice to see them driven by the Naim DVD player.

Waterfall Speakers - an interesting concept -

I liked the Wilson Benesch home theatre and was impressed with stereo system.

Interesting and sad to hear of the tales of the UK HiFi industry - how some of the great names are now bundled together into branding companies.

And for Graphoman - I met James from TomTom Audio - and had a very enjoyable chat with him.

Bought three CDs from the Naim booth

It is good to meet the people from Salisbury as well as from the other companies, interesting that over the years one gets to recognise and be recognised by people from various companies.

That is it - Good on-time rail journey there and back. A pleasant day out.

Derek

<< >>

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by Justin

still no pics of the new Rega's?

Judd

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by John3

quote:
Anyone else go, whats going on? there is normally loads of interesting things to report.

I think one of the problems this year is that there was no major new product launch by Naim. To that extent the show was dissapointing. Bristol has been used to launch the CDS3/552/SL2/500 in recent years. This year we got the 'i' products DVD5 and Arriva, which don't really count as they were already known about.

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by Wiltshireman

I didn't need to go. I know exactly where I am going with my system so I and didn't need to look, see or speak to anyone about anything.

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by John Bailey

I popped along on Saturday. As the others above have pretty much described what was there I will just put down a few jottings:

Naim Arriva/5i system sounded like a chip off the old block. Arriva speakers looked and sounded good, it would be interesting to see what they could do on the end of better electronics – the system had all the drive and timing but was a bit ‘rough’ around the edges, the CDX2/Allae system next door was a marked improvement but not as captivating as I had hoped.

The Naim DVD set up was very good but somewhat overshadowed by the Meridian G series stuff with digital active loudspeakers (but at significantly greater cost). AV is not really my thing though.

Nice to see others using Naim equipment – Mission, Spendor and Dynaudio. Actually, the Spendors (s5e & s9e) were very good but eclipsed for my by the Dynaudio Contour 1.4. In fact I think I’ve found ‘my’ speaker here and will be booking a dem soon when I can find a local stockist.

Other items of note were the Final 700PL electrostatics, Rega P25 and dinky little power supply and Revolver Loudspeakers which seemed good value if not quite to my liking.

The valve stuff in the HiFi World room sounded dreadful – over driven and distorted.

Had a brief chat with the guys on the Tivoli Stand – the alarm clock is beautiful but the snooze function cuts the radio off after 20 minutes and it’s not adjustable so no good to me (need an hour really). The DAB Tivoli looked interesting but the existing FM unit sounded better – they are only looking to make them to fill demand rather than fill a real need for quality.

A good day out but AV stuff seemed to be the order of the day really.

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by Don Atkinson

some thoughts

I went today, mainly to look at AV plasmas and projection kit.

Naim had three systems playing, all as described by others above.

The new 5i/Arriva system sounded clear and open, but for my taste was far too polite and uninvolving. Perhaps it was the choice of music, but i didn't feel compelled to listen. I wasn't put off.....just not drawn in...

The CDX/XPS/282/hiCap/250/Allea system was much more involving (and reasuringly expensive as well!) Now the music wasn't exactly dynamic, nor was it obviously demo-quality flashy, but it did get your attention and hold it. So the system must be doing its job properly, and then some....the vocals were never strained, just pure. The bass went down to the floor, clean and deep. Not overpowering, but blatently obvious. this system should get potential punters into the dealer's dem rooms.

The DVD5/AV2/250/250/145/NBLs/Alleas/MKsub/50"Fujitsu plasma system was pulling in the crowds. I only saw music dvds so couldn't comment on Monsters/Bugs/Private Ryan/Pearl Harbour.....The pictures were excellent as described by others above. The sound.....well....a lot better than the 5i system, but not a patch on the CDX/XPS/282/hiCap/250/Allea system. OTOH, it was far better than most of the other AV systems on display today. If you are seriously thinking about AV, I recommend waiting a few months and having a dem via a good plasma or DLP projector.

As for AV visuals, I shall be taking a closer look at Sim2, InFocus5700 and particularly Runco. In the Plasma arena I shall be considering the Fujitsu range against Pioneer and Panasonic.

For the first time, I felt that home cinema was impressive and affordable...and I haven't just won the lottery....

Cheers

Don

Posted on: 22 February 2004 by MarkEJ

quote:
Originally posted by John Bailey:
...Meridian G series stuff with digital active loudspeakers.

Yes, they're very keen on chucking that phrase around, aren't they! At the 2001 show I had a conversation with Bob Stuart in order to clarify that only the DAC/DSP/crossover boards within the speaker cabinets are, in fact "digital". The power amplifiers and drive units are in fact very much analogue, as were the cabinets, as far as one could tell... It seems strange that they should sacrifice so much potential quality by placing all that sensitive and critical circuitry within the hostile confines of a loudspeaker cabinet, simply in order to use the word "digital" in the context of a potentially excellent speaker. And alas, they don't sound like they cost -- that year at least, music was entirely absent.

Best;

Mark